Iron Fish Hard Fork: Enhancing Security and Decentralization

12.03.2024

On April 2, 2024, the Iron Fish blockchain will undergo a hard fork aimed at changing the mining algorithm. The primary goal of this hard fork is to protect the coin from the influence of ASICs and FPGAs.

The hardfork is scheduled on block height (503,338) which is approximately April 2nd 12:00 GMT but can be earlier/later by a few hours, depending on how quickly the block is mined.

A hard fork is a significant change to the blockchain protocol, rendering the old protocol no longer supported. Such changes require agreement and migration of all network participants to the new version. Hard forks are utilized to improve the protocol, fix errors, settle community disputes, or implement new features.

Why Iron Fish?

The official Iron Fish website — https://ironfish.network/

Iron Fish uses its own L1 blockchain that encrypts every transaction, shielding your sensitive asset information from public view. All transactions are private and validated by zero knowledge proofs (ZKP).

The aim is to provide a safer, better, more approachable user experience for crypto holders.

Historical Events:

Prepare Yourself For Hardfork!

Your wallet address will remain unchanged, and the coins you mined will not disappear.

  1. If you are running your own node (CLI), please make sure you have installed the latest Node v2.0.0 release with the hardfork activation: https://github.com/iron-fish/ironfish/releases/tag/v2.0.0
  2. If you are using Iron Fish Node App (the GUI App), please make sure you have installed the latest Node App v3.0 release with the hardfork activation: https://ironfish.network/use/node-app

Fox wallet and exchange wallets may also undergo maintenance for a couple of days during the hardfork update. It's advisable not to send coins during this time.

If you mine Iron Fish on a pool, we recommend increasing the payout threshold so that coins are not sent until the wallets and exchanges restores payment processing.

If you hold Iron Fish coins on an exchange, they may be unavailable on the hardfork day. This is normal, and after network changes, the coins will be accessible again.

Kryptex Pool will notify the miners in advance and provide all the instructions for the switch, so stay tuned for updates!

Why Change the Algorithm?

The developers of Iron Fish consistently listen to the opinions of their community. The hard fork aims to protect the algorithm from the influence of ASICs and FPGAs, eliminate those who play "unfairly," enhance the network's reliability and security, and attract GPU miners, making the network more decentralized.

Previously, Iron Fish operated on a slightly modified Blake3 algorithm. Blake3 is a cryptographic hash function originally not designed for mining but later repurposed to expedite the network and address security and scalability issues.

As Blake3 exclusively utilizes x64 and x86 resources, the algorithm can be easily adapted for ASICs and FPGAs — specialized and highly efficient devices designed to quickly mine cryptocurrency.

What Will Change?

The most effective way to defend against ASICs and FPGAs is to focus on using fast and expensive memory, along with altering the hashing algorithm itself.

The proposal suggests replacing the Iron Fish hashing algorithm with a Proof of Work algorithm emphasizing memory, similar to Ethash. FishHash levels the playing field between different mining equipment (ASICs, FPGAs, and GPUs), making mining more accessible to a broader community.

FishHash is no exception, and unlike before when Iron Fish utilized only core resources, it will now require fast memory. The DAG file will occupy around 5 GB, enabling mining for GPUs with a memory capacity of 6 GB and above.

For more details on algorithm changes, you can read here: FIP-3 Memory-Hard Mining Algorithm

Does This Secure the Coin Against ASICs Forever?

It is impossible to create 100% protection against ASICs.

Creating and using ASICs itself is not inherently bad, but in the early stages, the advent of ASICs disrupts network decentralization, concentrating a significant amount of coins in few hands, often used as a means of market manipulation.

It's crucial to understand that changing the algorithm does not provide a 100% guarantee that ASICs will never appear, but developing such an ASIC will be very expensive and inefficient (at least up to a certain point). The question is whether creating such an ASIC will be reasonable.

Which Miner Supports the FishHash Algorithm?

The first miner to support the FishHash algorithm is, of course, lolMiner, as the algorithm was created by the miner's developer. The miner works with both AMD and Nvidia GPUs.

You can already test your GPU and see how it performs with the FishHash algorithm. The Kryptex pool supports mining the coin on the testnet.

Download the latest miner version, launch the miner with the following parameters:

lolMiner.exe --algo FISHHASH --pool iron.kryptex.network:7777 --user WALLET/WORKER

Replace WALLET with your Iron Fish wallet address and WORKER with your worker name.

You won't receive coins for this mining until the hard fork is complete, but you can evaluate the new algorithm and prepare your GPUs for mining on the new algorithm.

The developers of the rigel and SRBMiner-Multi miners expressed readiness to support the hard fork and will the new FishHash algorithm.

How Will the Earnings Change?

The block reward will remain unchanged, but predicting the actual profitability of Iron Fish after the algorithm change is challenging.

Earnings are significantly influenced by network difficulty, and with the algorithm change, network difficulty will decrease as ASICs and FPGAs can no longer mine. A reduction in network difficulty should increase miners' earnings, at least in the initial period after the hard fork.

How Will Mining Change?

The faster your GPU memory, the better Iron Fish will mine on the new FishHash algorithm. Top-tier Nvidia GPUs, such as RTX 3070 Ti - RTX 3090 Ti, and new GPUs like RTX 4070 Ti - RTX 4090, will perform exceptionally well.

Lower-end GPUs from the RTX 4000 series might mine less efficiently than RTX 3000 cards since the memory bus on the new GPUs is smaller (128-bit vs. 256-bit), resulting in lower performance.

GPU overclocking will focus on memory rather than the core. GPU power consumption will be regulated by core frequency and overall card power consumption (Power Limit).

GPU power consumption will also increase. A close analogy for overclocking and consumption is mining coins with the Ethash algorithm.

Below, we have compiled a table of some GPUs to illustrate the difference clearly:

Model Blake3 Hashrate Blake3 Consumption FishHash Hashrate FishHash Consumption
RX 6700 XT 8 500 Mhs 65 Watt 31 Mhs 95 Watt
RTX 3060 8 000 Mhs 65 Watt 31 Mhs 110 Watt
RTX 3070 11 500 Mhs 90 Watt 38 Mhs 125 Watt
RTX 3070 Ti 12 500 Mhs 100 Watt 49.5 Mhs 175 Watt
RTX 3080 18 000 Mhs 160 Watt 65 Mhs 215 Watt
RTX 3090 Ti 21 500 Mhs 135 Watt 84.5 Mhs 310 Watt
RTX 4070 20 200 Mhs 130 Watt 35 Mhs 105 Watt
RTX 4070 Ti 24 500 Mhs 135 Watt 42 Mhs 120 Watt
RTX 7900 XT 25 000 Mhs 240 Watt 55.5 Mhs 180 Watt
RTX 4080 34 500 Mhs 215 Watt 53.5 Mhs 200 Watt
RTX 4090 53 500 Mhs 295 Watt 80.5 Mhs 270 Watt

These are not final data, and your actual experience may vary from the results in the table. Test your GPUs and share the results with the community!

How to overclock GPUs for FishHash?

Since the algorithm is memory-related, overclocking will primarily focus on the memory. Recommended overclocking settings for GPUs are provided in the table below:

Model Core Clock Fix Memory Clock Hashrate Consumption
RX 6700 XT 1250 Mhs +1075 Mhz Windows, 2150 Mhz Linux 31 Mhs 95 Watt
RTX 3060 1250 Mhz +1000 Mhz Windows, 2000 Mhz Linux 31 Mhs 110 Watt
RTX 3070 1250 Mhz +1100 Mhz Windows, 2200 Mhz Linux 38 Mhs 125 Watt
RTX 3070 Ti 1250 Mhz +1250 Mhz Windows, 2500 Mhz Linux 49.5 Mhs 175 Watt
RTX 3080 1250 Mhz +1300 Mhz Windows, 2600 Mhz Linux 65 Mhs 215 Watt
RTX 3090 Ti 1250 Mhz +1300 Mhz Windows, 2600 Mhz Linux 85.5 Mhs 310 Watt
RTX 4070 850 Mhz +1250 Mhz Windows, 2500 Mhz Linux 35 Mhs 105 Watt
RTX 4070 Ti 850 Mhz +1250 Mhz Windows, 2500 Mhz Linux 42 Mhs 120 Watt
RTX 7900 XT 1250 Mhs +1250 Mhz Windows, 2500 Mhz Linux 55.5 Mhs 180 Watt
RTX 4080 850 Mhz +1250 Mhz Windows, 2500 Mhz Linux 53.5 Mhs 200 Watt
RTX 4090 850 Mhz +1250 Mhz Windows, 2500 Mhz Linux 80.5 Mhs 270 Watt

These are not final data, and your actual experience may vary from the results in the table. Test your GPUs and share the results with the community!

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